


An Act of Kindness

by corgasbord



Series: Oumota Week 2018 [2]
Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hope's Peak Academy (Dangan Ronpa), Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-16
Updated: 2018-05-16
Packaged: 2019-05-07 17:27:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,028
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14675946
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/corgasbord/pseuds/corgasbord
Summary: Kokichi gets a surprise on his birthday.(Oumota Week Day 2: Birthday)





	An Act of Kindness

**Author's Note:**

> oof i keep running late with prompts... here's hoping that i can catch up now that i'm finally out of school, haha.
> 
> anyways, i just wanted to write a little fluff for this prompt! i notice a lot of people prefer the first date one, but i liked the idea i had for this one too much to pass up, and i hope you all like it too!

Birthdays are a funny thing, Kokichi thinks.

He isn’t sure whose idea they were, nor is he terribly interested in getting a lecture on the matter from Korekiyo, but the concept is an amusing one in and of itself. An event celebrating someone’s mere existence - how silly is that? For one day out of the year, you don’t have to do anything to be appreciated but just _be_.

For someone like him, then, such a celebration is meaningless. If there’s one thing he’s long since come to accept, it’s that his presence isn’t one that’s generally appreciated to begin with.

The birthdays he spent with DICE were always fun, of course. They were a group that really knew how to throw a party befitting their supreme leader. If they were able to come to Hope’s Peak he’s sure that they would do exactly that, but they know better than to do anything but lay low, so visits are out of the question. It doesn’t matter anyway, because again, he’s always known that birthdays are silly and pointless and meant to be enjoyed by people who have time to waste on others.

There are exactly three people at school who even know about his birthday: Kirumi, resident busybody, whom he’s held to strict confidentiality; Rantarou, one of his only close friends, who discreetly brings him small gifts each time; and Shuuichi, who caught wind of it last year, smart cookie that he is, and insisted on doing something nice.

That leaves him with the question, then, of why exactly Kaito Momota of all people has intercepted him in the dormitory hallway, a shoddily-wrapped gift box in his hands.

“I heard it was your birthday, so, uh. Here,” the taller boy says, his smile awkward but earnest as he thrusts the box forward. “Happy birthday.”

For a hot second, Kokichi is genuinely stunned. He doesn’t expect presents on his birthday to begin with, and Kaito is the last person he would think he’d get anything from. He’s quick to collect himself, though, tucking the almost panicked question of _who the fuck told him_ neatly away behind a condescending little sneer.

“Oh? And where did you hear that?” Kokichi asks, eyes darting back up to Kaito’s face, pointedly ignoring the gift.

“Shuuichi told me,” Kaito says, not withdrawing an inch.

_Ah._ Kokichi makes a mental note to talk to Shuuichi about that later. For now, though, he lets his lip curl up further. “How do you know he wasn’t lying to you?”

“Shuuichi wouldn’t lie to me,” Kaito replies confidently. “Especially about something stupid like that.”

Kokichi lets his expression drop and his lower lip quiver. “You… you think my birthday is stupid?”

“What? No!” Kaito stammers, clearly caught off-guard by the shift in Kokichi’s mood. “I just think it would be a stupid thing to lie about.”

Kokichi smooths his features out. “Well, it's fine anyway. Birthdays are stupid- your birthday, my birthday, anyone's birthday. It's just another day, right?”

Kaito falters, and Kokichi isn't sure whether the creases in his brow are due more to confusion or irritation. “I mean… I guess?”

“Man, Momota-chan, you sure are boring,” Kokichi sighs. “I bet you got me something boring, too.”

Kaito’s frown deepens, and he looks something close to wounded. His pride hurts, probably. Finally, he pulls his arms back and grumbles, “Fine. If you don't fucking want it then I'll just-”

“I never said I didn't want it,” Kokichi says, swiftly snatching the box out of Kaito's hands before he can draw it any closer to his chest. “Don't go jumping to conclusions, Momota-chan.”

He has to admit, as annoyed as he is that Kaito is now privy to information he shouldn't have, he's curious to see what the buffoon got him. Something stupid, no doubt, but perhaps at the very least it’ll be amusing enough to tease him over. He picks at the gratuitous tape lining the edges of the package, likely to compensate for the fact that the idiot couldn’t wrap it evenly, then tears away the sparkly purple paper and lets it flutter to the floor in shreds. Kaito can pick that up.

It falls away to reveal not a box, as Kokichi expected, but… a cube. A cube made up of multicolored blocks lined up seven by seven. He blinks.

“It’s a Rubik’s cube,” Kaito explains, as though it isn’t obvious. “I mean, I know you like puzzles, and figured you’d want something a little more challenging. So… yeah.”

Kokichi turns the cube over in his hands, and the corner of his lip turns up again. “You think I enjoy playing with toys as much as you do, Momota-chan?”

The numerous expressions Kaito’s features sift through in the span of the next few seconds are priceless. Surprise, then embarrassment, then irritation, then bewilderment, then irritation combined with a flush that’s almost cute. He opens his mouth, closes it, opens it again, and finally sputters, “Like I said, if you don’t like it-”

“Well, you’d be right! Probably. I mean, I don’t know how much you like playing with toys,” Kokichi continues, a grin splitting his cheeks. “Man, this is so eeeasy though! I could solve this in no time. You seriously underestimate me.”

Kaito appraises Kokichi for a moment with a frown, holding onto his own upper arms. Then he closes his eyes and releases a sigh through his nose. “‘Dunno why you can’t just thank me like a normal fucking person.”

“‘Cause I’m not satisfied with just this,” Kokichi says. “I wanna see you try and solve one of these things. Bet you can’t!”

“I- I can too,” Kaito insists, straightening indignantly. “Could even solve one faster than you, I bet!”

Kokichi smirks. “Prove it, then. If you lose you have to buy me cake!”

Kaito, ever predictable, doesn’t back down from the challenge. “Fine. Deal.”

And when a thoroughly chagrined Kaito begrudgingly escorts him to an off-campus bakery a little while later, Kokichi decides that this is one of his better birthdays, at least since coming to Hope’s Peak - even as he tries to tell Kaito again that it isn’t his birthday at all.


End file.
